Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Julie Cohen (“RBG”) is back with a new documentary called “Every Body,” about the lives of intersex people. The film tells the story of three people born intersex, which is when a person displays physical characteristics — chromosome patterns or genitalia — that don’t fit traditional binary definitions of gender, often causing doctors and families to actively assign a gender to the newborn child. The adults profiled in the film share their experiences of forced surgeries, shame and secrets, and have now chosen to be public to advocate for the end of medically unnecessary interventions. Produced with NBC News and distributed by Focus Features this June, it’s a timely and urgently needed film to help squash the ignorance about gender currently running rampant in the United States. Make it a Pride Month watch and buy a ticket when it comes along.
Holland Taylor goes ‘Untitled’
This isn’t a permanent situation, but right now there’s a film in production and its working non-title is “Untitled Sandra Oh and Awkwafina comedy film.” Like we said, that’ll change, but it’s important that everyone know that elder lesbian queen Holland Taylor will be in this movie. She’s the octogenarian legend who’s been bringing it all since the 1960s, raising the queer bar and partnering up with Sarah Paulson for good measure. Here’s the non-Holland Taylor information we have: Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are the two leads, playing a pair of chaotic sisters, the director is Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu and it co-stars Jason Schwartzman, Tony Hale and Will Ferrell. All of these folks make us eager to see the no-name-having movie, even if the plot didn’t involve a stolen dog, a game show freak, gambling debts, a cross-country road trip, Holland Taylor, and who knows what else. It drops on Hulu later in the year. Now will someone please give it a title?
Glitter & Doom and… the Indigo Girls
At this year’s 33rd annual Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival – rolling out queer films from 30 countries from May 25th to June 4th – there’s not one but two movies featuring music icons the Indigo Girls. We already reported on the Alexandria Bambach-directed Indigo documentary “It’s Only Life After All,” which explores the legacy of the duo’s music. But now comes word of “Glitter & Doom,” from filmmaker Tom Gustafson. Starring Canadian-Filipino queer actor Alex Diaz, newcomer Alan Cammish, Lea DeLaria, Missi Pyle, Ming-Na Wen, Kate Pierson of the B-52s, Tig Notaro and the Indigo Girls — Amy Ray and Emily Saliers — themselves, it’s a love story (about a person named Glitter and another named Doom, of course) told through Indigo Girls song lyrics. This means it’s a jukebox musical, but we wonder if that means all the dialogue will rhyme, or be sung instead of spoken, or what. And yes, obviously, we can’t wait until it finishes its film festival life and gets itself on a local theater screen so we can drink it in and sing along.
Come join ‘The Mattachine Family’
We’re really into the current vibe of all-queer casts in films, so it’s exciting to announce that the indie film “The Mattachine Family,” about to make the film festival rounds, is serving queer in front of and behind the camera. The debut feature from the married creative team of director Andy Vallentine and screenwriter Danny Vallentine is a drama about a couple navigating foster care and defining for themselves what makes a family. And the cast is, as far as we can tell, all non-heterosexuals: Nico Tortorella (“Younger”), Juan Pablo di Pace (“Fuller House”), Carl Clemons-Hopkins (“Hacks”), Emily Hampshire (“Schitt’s Creek”), Jake Choi (“Single Parents”), and the great Heather Matarazzo (“Welcome to the Dollhouse”). In fact, it looks like producer Zach Braff might be the lone straight in the room. He’ll be fine. Look for this one to drop into theaters or streaming (or both) before year’s end.
Romeo San Vicente is finally closer to fine.